So when I got trapped in Costa Rica for the few extra days I ended up staying at the El Punto B & B. It turned out to be an excellent place, it only has five or six units with a theme of colors, it might be the cutest place I’ve ever stayed. My unit had A/C, a ceiling fan, a very hot shower (but I never could get that much heat from the two sinks), two beds, two tables, three chairs and something I’d call a kitchenette but there wasn’t a way to cook anything but coffee (had a sink and medium refrigerator). I had found huge very comfy towels and a washcloth, made me feel very civilized. Outside I had another chair and table with a hammock. There was free internet but only up by the office and they also had what appeared to be a community area with couches, chairs and a television. There was also a nice double-sided page with info about the area (such as suggested restaurants), how to access the WiFi and useful info that all hotels should mimic.

Breakfast was amazing! A mini loaf of bread with jellies and jams and watermelon and pineapple and eggs with coffee and juice. My only real complaint is there just isn’t enough space to unpack (but I have that complaint quite often).

It’s right around the corner from a nice outside mall, across from that is a Burger King/Papa John’s/Church’s Fried Chicken and down the street a bit (easy walk) is the downtown area. I’ll stay there again sometime (on purpose). I think they’re pretty close to the Zoo (that’s supposed to be excellent) and a nearby Volcano that was also recommended to me. Plus if I’m flying out of the Liberia airport it’s pretty convenient (I think during the busier season they might provide airport transportation?) and a cab was about $15.

So I was Burger King today and once in a while I’ll see one of the local homeless people in there (usually it’s when it’s really cold out), I think there’s 3 in particular that I recognize. Today, all three were in there (actually one was on the was out as one came in) which I thought was strange since I’ve been at BK a little more than usual lately and today it’s nowhere near as cold as it has been. Two are schizophrenic, not that I’m qualified to judge, and the other is kinda quiet. The one guy just seems to drink his coffee and step outside for a smoke and talks to himself, he seems to be the most well off, I’ve even seen him get a beer or two at the bar before (it’s possible this guy isn’t homeless). The quiet guy seems to have all his stuff with him (3 big bags) and he must have been there for a while, I saw someone ask him to leave after a while. The woman, I’ve seen her pull stuff out of the trash, and she asked me for my left over fries one time and I gave he those and some cash. Today I intentionally left my uneaten onion rings and my half-eaten Whopper on my tray at the table and she had grabbed it before I got out the door; I’m not sure why it’s a problem for me to just offer her a few dollars.

When I’m out of town if someone asks nice (even semi-nice) for some money, I’m easy to cough up a buck or two; and in some places, that’s every block or so. I always make sure I have some cash on me for that reason. But the local homeless, I never know how to deal with them, actually they’ve never asked for money at the Burger King but I’d be glad to give them some money, but I hate to offer and for some reason I’d hate them expect it from then on (not that it’d really be a problem).If I’m somewhere around town and someone asks for cash, I’m more likely to buy them a meal if there’s an opportunity, I’d rather spend $5-10 on a meal then hand them a few dollars cash if I can (especially if I can smell alcohol or see bloodshot eyes).

It’s when it’s the locals that I see often when it throws me. And I’m not sure why this keeps me so off balance…?

It all makes me sad and feel pretty ungrateful when I complain about stuff in the wonderful life that I have. I’ve got a nice paying job, no debt (other than my house) and I’ve been doing pretty good at saving for my retirement someday. I give money to the shelter when they are doing fund raisers and to school when they’re having auctions and other things when they are happening around town; I could do more I’m sure, but I could certainly doing less too.

So I know I’ve got habits and patterns but you never know how much people actually notice them. I’ve been eating at Einstein Brothers lately and I generally get the same thing (Tasty Turkey on Asiago with no cucumbers, soup [cheddar broccoli or chicken noodle] and a bottomless Coca-Cola). And they’ve got great cellular reception so I’ll hook up the laptop and hang out for a while. While they don’t have my order down yet, the cashier pointed out to me today that there was someone at “my table”. I hadn’t realized I had established such a seating pattern at that place :)

As I said, I do generally get the same things at the same restaurants:

Wendy’s – Spicy Chicken or Single with cheese (both with lettuce, tomato and onion only).

McDonald’s – A #3 (QP w/cheese) no pickle and no mustard.

Burger King – This is where I mix it up at my fast food places (woo hoo!). Generally a Whopper with cheese (no pickle, no mustard, no mayo) or a Chicken Tendercrisp (no mayo) but sometimes I get a Junior or a cheeseburger (no pickle, no mustard, no mayo on either of course)!

The rule is generally no pickles (even on the side), no mustard and no mayo. Preferably with a Coke.

For a while my local Burger King had WiFi. Then it only worked if I tweaked with the TCP/IP settings. Then it was intermittent. Eventually it died and I had to use the wired port (or my Airport Express adaptor) and that pretty much died. I can honestly say I’ve eaten here less since then. I mean if I gotta be WiFi-less or mess with my phone as a modem I can go anywhere, right?

Today I popped in for a quick snack. Wasn’t 100% sure if I was going to hook up the modem but I knew I wanted to type a few things. I opened my laptop and got the wonderful message “Do you want to join the network ‘Burger King’?”. I love WiFi….

So I’m at the Burger King that has free wired internet but no wireless. So I go to pull out my trusty Apple Airport Express out of my backpack. Or at least I try to. It’s gone!!! I dig and dig, I’ve got everything in this thing. If McGuyver carried a Powerbook, this is all the stuff he’d have “digital duct tape” and all that.

It’s not here. But then I notice neither is my mini retractable ethernet cable, the last time I used both was (you got it) at this Burger King. I ask if they have a lost and found and they don’t (how weird is that?). But I describe it to them, they go to the office and sure enough they’ve got it!!!

So it’s something in the front end. The plate where tires get bolted on. I actually thought it was something like that (I checked to make sure the bolts were tight).

(Technical words that I didn’t really write down or listen to were removed to protect the non-technical)Them (Sales and Repair guys): So it’s the thingy in the front end where the tires attach to the front of the car. (Or something like that)Me: I’ve had a lot of work done in the front before…? (they generally have good warrantees so I wanted to make sure it wasn’t something I already did) Sales guy: No, not at all, you’ve had ____, _____, _____ and _____ done before. (I’m sure my eyes glaze over like I see when I’m explaining gigabytes and ram and firewire and WiFi to others)Me: That’s not all in the front end? Repair guy: Laughs (at sales guy and says) yeah that’s all in the front end.

So we work out the details and such. The right side is worse but I get both sides done. Like I said, I do try to take care of it.

Sales guy: It’ll be about two hours Me: You sure? Repair guy: Yeah that’s about right.Me: You’re really sure? Four hours is okay, but I’ll go do something else if it’s really longer than two hours. Them: They pretty much promise it’ll be about 2 hours… (We’ll see)

If it’s not ready, I know they’ll blame it on getting the part. Like I said, even 8 hours would have been fine, I just want to go do stuff. And it’s cold and wet (wet snow, actually) out so it’s a hassle to walk home if it’s only 2 hours. If it wasn’t wet, I’d just bundle up and rollerblade home and not think twice about it.

So I’m at Burger King, which is about 20-25% of the way home. I’m eating the wonderful Chicken Tendercrisp sandwich and unlimited Coca-Cola and enjoying theur semi-wireless Internet access (which is pretty much what I’d probably be doing if I was home). It’s only semi-wireless since it’s wired but my AirPort Express makes it wireless for me…

So if you eat at Burger Kind and super-size your meal to a Large or King size meal you get a Amazon Prize Card that is worth at least $1 at Amazon (it basically redeems as a gift card). If you win it’s worth up to $10,000!!! It’s really a no-brainer if you shop at Amazon since the upgrade is only 50 cents…

Onesome: Premium— Have you tried any of the fast food empire’s ‘Premium’ sandwiches lately? Was it any good?

I just tried the new a Sirloin Steakhouse Cheesesteak Sandwich (sliced beef, cheese, onions peppers and some kind of parmesan sauce on a new bun/roll) at Arby’s but they don’t list it on their web site so it must be a trial of some sort. It was delicious and they sell it as a wrap too.

I know I mentioned it before but I finally had an Enormous Omelet Sandwich at Burger King. It’s delicious!!! I ate the whole thing, I almost always never finish a whole huge burger. Two sausage patties, cheese, egg, bacon all on a huge sub-like bun. I had to rush to get out of the house because it was 10:30 and I was afraid they were about to stop serving but I made it and it was delicious!!!

My BK whine of the week is that the combo prices are listed next to the sandwich. But that’s not the price if you get coffee or juice; the logical choice for breakfast.
BK whine #2, the WiFi is down again, but the wired ports are working so with my handy dandy Airport Express I’m good to go!

I gotta say, it does look yummy. I could never eat a whole one or if I did, it would take a long time (I’m a slow eater). I’d think we need to outlaw the companies that make deserts first, the whole “purpose” of desserts is to be unhealthy.

Okay, I had breakfast (bacon, egg, cantaloupe and orange juice) and I just had a bowl of cereal. I’m starving after seeing pictures of this sandwich. I’d go get one right now if they were still serving breakfast.

So it’s another nice Saturday in the Detroit area (Dearborn actually). Lots of sunshine and it’s not too cold either. Got the car washed, went to the library, ran a few errands and got and sandwich at Burger King. I’m posting this at the WiFi BK, their WiFi is semi-screwed up again but I managed to get around it get it to work.

Need to do some organizing around the house but I’ll wait until the sun is shining into that room. Not much of an exciting weekend but it’s nice to relax and get a bit more sleep than usual…

I’m not sure exactly why I bought the Apple Airport Express. That might sound silly but it’s not just one device, it’s not two, it’s not even only three, it’s FOUR (yes four!) devices in one.

It’ll work as a WiFi router. Can I tell you how easy this was to use? I was at my local Burger King and the WiFi was down again but the wired connection was up. So instead of sitting by the noisy TVs I plugged in the express to the wall and a RJ-45 (phone-like cord) into the ethernet jack and my laptop asked if I wanted to join the new network. That was it! I’m now wireless sitting in my comfy corner.

A WiFi Extender. Does your WiFi network start to fade at the far end of the house? Put this somewhere where you still get a signal and it will extend the range farther for you.

A music (i.e. iTunes) streamer. Computer in the other room with all your music on it? Plug in the optional audio cables into the AirPort Express next to your stereo and you can listed to your iTunes ianywhere in the house!

Printer Adapter. Want to share a printer? Plug a USB printer into the port and you can print to it from anywhere in the house!

It works for Windows and Macintosh (but I haven’t tried the printing yet) and it’s great!

1. Have you ever blogged something you’ve regretted in the morning? Do you leave it? Delete it? Pray that no one reads it?

If I regret it, I’d delete it. I thinking of it as the Post-its of my life, they can be removed at any time.

2. Last week, RE: Blogs asked about the location from which you blog. This week, RE: Blogs asks for a photo of your favorite blogging environment. If you don’t have a camera ready – or aren’t willing to share a photo – – describe your favorite blogging place to the best of your ability

I blog from everywhere. I use ecto and it lets me save posts while off line, then I can manually post when on-line. I can always hook up my cell phone to connect and a few restaurants (Burger King and Panera) have WiFi.

3. What do you like most in a blog post by another blogger? Personal experiences? Fictional stories? News/Current events? Tech advice? Share some of your favorites from this week (either yours, or someone elses).

Personal experiences – either funny or drama, I wait for the next installment of their life. Tech advice is great, if it weren’t for others, I’d never use Movable Type as well as I do.

So I’m getting a snack at BK and some sun, I’ve got a spot I like where the sun shines in the window. And a bunch of little girls who are celebrating a birthday came in. I’m not sure how many of them were the Mom’s that was with them but they were a handful. They sure ate a lot too. Mom kept threatening them with no ice cream if they didn’t shape up! It’s pretty much a disaster where they were although it’s the spot that faces the televisions (closed captioned) so all the kids always want to sit there.

They just redid our BK in Dearborn and now it has WiFi. Isn’t technology great!

I tried the new checken tender sandwich (lettuce, tomato and no mayo), it’s better than the old one but Wendy’s spicy is way better. Oh, and I won free french fries too!